It has been 25 years since I seriously tried to gobble. Back then, I was hunting small plots and folks were commonly coming onto the property. After a couple of close calls where I found I was being hunted, I stopped gobbling and really have not done it since.

However, in the thread "Is there a better way?" I laid everything out to folks and asked for an honest critique. One of the suggestions was that I start gobbling. My initial reaction was a shiver of fear, but as I thought about it, I realized that if there was ever a safe place to try it, it would be in the interior my current 200 acre farm.

I've still got my original Quaker Boy Grand Old Master box call that does a fair gobble. I also ordered up a Primos Gobble Shaker:

I had a stubborn gobbler that wouldn't come to hen calling for some unknown reason. Sure, he'd courtesy gobble back, but that's it. First, I thought he was gay and not interested in what the hens had to say. Then I realized that it sounded like he always had hens roosting right close to him. After little success trying to coax him away from his harem, I decided to go for broke and went to a place he was seen crossing some powerlines that was uphill from the secondary knoll where he liked to roost. Most times, if you called to him after fly down, he'd just go the other way, if the hens did or not. He might cruise back past where you had been calling from after 10 AM or so, but he was usually skirting the area and not going directly to your calling location. The hens weren't saying much by the end of the season, so I dusted off my old bellows-type gobble shaker call. I got above him and each time he'd gobble, I'd gobble right on top of his call. If he double gobbled, I'd cut him off each time and I always got the last word in. I'm sure it pi$$ed him off. Once he got quiet, I figured he was on the ground and would come to investigate sooner rather than later. I almost wish I had a jake decoy out, but I was traveling light that day. Thirty minutes after his last gobble, just below the ridge and out of range, not one, but two gobblers circled below me, looking for the gobbler they'd heard. If I had the gun up and ready, I could have gotten a shot. But with four eyes searching for the intruding gobbler, I was hand cuffed and there was no way I could pick up the gun to draw on them. They eased off over the rise and walked down the creek bed towards the neighboring property.

If I had been more ready to shoot, calling for another shooter, or if there was only one set of eyes looking my direction, I may have had a crack at him. It turns out that I killed a bird that roosted in the same area and behaved similar to what those boys were doing the following year by slipping in close to the roost after a rainy night quieted down the woods. That bird was 23 pounds and change with an 11 inch beard and 1.25 inch spurs, but he was also toting some copper plated #6s under his hide that may have made him hunter-shy and given him reason to avoid any hens he couldn't see.

I'd say go for it, but not as a first resort. Good luck and let us know how it goes.

Certain days I do as much gobbling as I do hen talk. I want to be the first bird sounding off in the morning, it tells every bird with in that area that there is a new bird in town and he thinks he's the boss. It works great for a locater call first thing in the morning. It will also tell you if a gobbler is roosted with hens or by himself. I love those quiet days that you don't hear any gobbling going on, those are the most productive days to gobble on, the curiosity kills them as to why is that bird gobbling so much, lets go check it out? Those days you just talk to yourself, gobble/hen, gobble/hen, hen, hen, gobble, hen ect. I jake gobble early seasons, and mature/jake gobble mid season, mature gobble late seasons, has worked very well for me.

I have only had luck with gobbling one time. After what I thought should have been fly down time I hadn't heard a thing. I let out some excited yelps, cutts and everything else and got no response. So I figured what the heck and let a gobble. I had three gobblers respond back. They flew down into the field that I was hunting and I thought game on. Then some hens flew down and went the other way and it was game over.

i have lost count of the number of birds ive killed or help others kill wear i gobbled at them B4 they were killed... like many say it may not be a 1st go to call but if you find a bird not willing to move a step or with hens & all else fails why not try to challenge that bird as a last resort? if he comes in great it worked if he just stay there gobbling you are wear you were in the 1st place write???

treat it like any other call dont just make noise pollution with it use it in certain situations & try to paint a picture with your calls like willowridgecalls says... act like there is some new hens in the area & if you get nothing maybe step it up to these hens called up a gobbler & thats you... make a hen call & answer it with a gobble & more hen yelps ETC.

yes you can scare off a few birds with this i have only blown out 1 gobbler in the last 4-6 years of doing so many just stay put & gobble back & i make a move closer to them & go back to yelps cuts putts ETC. many times that small or big move is enough to move that gobbler towards me many times... ive followed many birds with no luck hen yelping ETC. once i broke out the gobble call they had to come in for a look at the new guy... many times ive only had to gobble 1-4 times total many times that bird is vocal on the way in more times then not... some will sneak in & just stand near the source of the gobble & eye up the scene for a long period of time more times they gobble into the set up...

it does work well as a locator call as well real well at nite & early on in day... i try not to use it if i know other hunters are around but i like to get a long ways off the beaten path to avoid lazy hunters & dont park by other vehicles if there at a area B4 i get there to avoid encounters & call like i want to not have to...

the gobbler shaker you have there is what i have with me at all times so it does work if thats what your asking shaman??? i dont shake it i pump it sound end down or toward the direction i want to cast the call... that sounds better to me then just shaking it...???

im sure you will love it or hate it but i think if you use it in the write situations you will love your new toy shaman...

I have the Primos gobble tube you pictured, it seems to be the loudest and most durable on the market and has served me well. I had an HS Strut before this and it didn't sound nearly as good, it only had two bellows rings instead of three.

It sounds best with the two hand pumping operation as noted, never got much of a response using it as a shaker with the jake gobble. As a cold call you can get gobblers to respond but they seldom come to investigate. I've had the best luck using it in conjunction with decoys and hen calls, giving the illusion that there is a party going on without them. First they hear the party, then the decoys give them visual confirmation. Perfect!

"The joy of living is his, who has the heart to demand it." Teddy Roosevelt

I gobble on a tube some years in certain states about every bird I kill will be do to gobbler vocaliazations.

If your somewhat scared to gobble learn to gobbler yelp it challenges or shows the camaraderie aspect in the same manner as the gobble.. And most hunters struggle to recognize the difference between a gobbler yelp and a hen yelp but the turkeys wont making it safer than gobbling in the possible presence of other hunters. The gobbler yelp is always labeled as a "raspier" yelp which I have heard hens yelp as raspy as any gobbler but it is better differentiated by a slightly lower tone and slower rollover..

i gobbler yelp way more then hen yelp mainly so i dont sound like every other hunter out turkey hunting most guys do 6-12 note calls starting low in volume then get louder then slowly quite again? i dont really hear a sound diffence in gobbler yelps just speed of yelps and mainly number of yelps they make when they do yelp... im bout 2 order ray eyes 35 buck dvd and turkey hunters bible 2 gain more info on the sub ject plus with no quality turkey hunting magazines out there i got 2 have something 2 read?

turkey junky wrote:i gobbler yelp way more then hen yelp mainly so i dont sound like every other hunter out turkey hunting most guys do 6-12 note calls starting low in volume then get louder then slowly quite again? i dont really hear a sound diffence in gobbler yelps just speed of yelps and mainly number of yelps they make when they do yelp... im bout 2 order ray eyes 35 buck dvd and turkey hunters bible 2 gain more info on the sub ject plus with no quality turkey hunting magazines out there i got 2 have something 2 read?

Ray Eyes Turkey Hunters Bible is the best no B.S. book I have read.. Gobbler yelping sound files are hard to find, his latest Chasing Spring DVD has one segment that is full of gobbler/jake yelping mixed with hen yelping in the tree and allows you to really hear the difference.